Tag Archives: nixie tubes

The nice thing about doing things yourself is that you’re not constrained by the ROI considerations of the mass market channels. You can create anything you want and with a bit of talent you can end up with something like the above. It’s a Nixie tube chess set created by one “Tony” and features 80’s Soviet-era tubes with scientific symbols displayed on them. What’s especially nice about it is that it’s all induction-based, meaning the tubes light up when deposited on the board, but there’s no wires anywhere on the tubes, making them true chess pieces. Well of course aside from the fact that you’re going to have to learn which symbol represents which piece, but that’s trivial to the amount of effort you’ll have to put in if you decide to build your own. Turns out Tony is preparing a DIY kit, though he warns that “This is not a project for beginners – it makes extensive use of surface mount components. Expect to spend up to a week of your spare time on it depending on experience and patience.” There’s no mention of price or availability anywhere but you can keep track of things at the link below.

OhGizmo! is a frequently updated blog that focuses on covering items that will appeal to a very specific and often very passionate audience: the geek. Aside from the fare of innovative consumer electronic products, the reader can expect to find news about geek culture, absurd inventions, awe inspiring technology, and an ever growing assortment of articles that we like to think fit within our view of what we’re calling the Geek Lifestyle.